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Vito Rizzuto
Vito Rizzuto (21 February 1946-23 December 2013) was boss of the Rizzuto crime family from the 1970s to 2006, succeeding Nicolo Rizzuto and preceding Declan Gardiner. He presided over the unification of Montreal's organized crime into one unified crime syndicate in 1996, monopolizing the importation of drugs into Canada and the Northeastern United States until his imprisonment in 2006. Biography Vito Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily on 21 February 1946, the son of Nicolo Rizzuto and Libertina Manno. His family emigrated to Canada in 1954, and his father became an associate of the Cotroni crime family, a Sicilian Mafia family which sought to expand its operations into North America. Rizzuto married Giovanna Cammalleri in 1966 and had three children, including Nicolo Rizzuto Jr., his oldest son, and Leonardo Rizzuto, who later became the family's boss. Rise to power During the 1980s, Vito Rizzuto took over the leadership of the Rizzuto crime family, which emerged as the city's pre-eminent crew after a gang war between the city's Sicilian and Calabrian Mafia factions and the death of Bonanno crime family soldier Paolo Violi, who had been placed in charge of the city's Mafia. Rizzuto turned Montreal into North America's prime port of entry for drugs shipments to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and other Northeastern cities. While law enforcement authorities considered the Rizzutos to be merely a Bonanno crew in Canada, Rizzuto was in charge of more than 1,000,000 square miles of Quebec and Ontario, including major cities and US border crossings. He expanded his reach by collaborating with Joseph Massino to kill Bonanno capos Philip Giaccone, Dominick Trinchera, and Al Indelicato on 5 May 1981 (Rizzuto, Sandro Digirolamo, Enzo Giordano, and Salvatore Vitale were the gunmen), and, in 1996, he convinced the Devil's Kings MC under Jacques Pilote, the Haitian Mob under Papa Lou, and the Irish Mob to work together under his leadership, as he had police and political connections that turned the alliance of gangs into the united rulers of Montreal's underworld and drug smuggling operations. Downfall In 2004, Rizzuto was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury in relation to racketeering conspiracy charges, including loansharking and murder, in relation to the "Three Capos Murder". On 17 August 2006, he was extradited to the United States, and he accepted a plea bargain in May 2007 before the case went to trial. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000, and he only served five years. He was released on 5 October 2012 and moved back to Montreal, although he inherited a much-weakened family: his eldest son Nico, his consigliere Paolo Renda, and his father Nicolo were all murdered by his enemies. From 2012 to 2014, Rizzuto oversaw the elimination of many of his rivals, assisted by his right-hand man Declan Gardiner, who had served as acting boss during his imprisonment. However, Rizzuto angered Gardiner by shunning him due to his family's deaths under Gardiner's watch, so Gardiner had Rizzuto poisoned on 23 December 2013. Rizzuto's official cause of death was pneumonia caused by lung cancer, but an autopsy was never performed on him, leaving his cause of death in suspicion. Gallery Vito Rizzuto.png|Rizzuto in 1996 Category:1946 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Rizzuto crime family Category:Canadians Category:Italians Category:Italian-Canadians Category:Italian emigrants to Canada Category:Catholics Category:Criminals Category:Crime bosses Category:Mafiosi Category:Killed Category:Bonanno crime family